


The Pied Piper of Night Street

by Notmarysue



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguing, Canon Divergence, Child Neglect, Conflict, Conflict Resolution, Darkness, Decisions, Difficult Decisions, Fix-It, M/M, Monsters, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Apocalypse, Rescue, alternative ending, child endangerment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25334749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notmarysue/pseuds/Notmarysue
Summary: There's a legend on Night Street, of two men who can take you away.(Alternate ending to the episode 'Night night'. Season 4/5 spoilers)
Relationships: Martin Blackwood & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	The Pied Piper of Night Street

**Author's Note:**

> Night night was a tame episode but it still hurt me so here's an alternative.

The story Jon told was not a pleasant one. Jon did not tell pleasant stories. Martin tried to avoid hearing them he when could, when he wasn’t directly involved in them. He rarely was and, after his experience with The Lonely, he was glad of it. Still, there were some things he wasn’t comfortable not knowing, times where ignorance felt like the exact opposite of bliss. It was that feeling that consumed him on Night Street. He couldn’t live without knowing what was really happening. So, Martin stood, silent and patient, to listen to Jon’s story. And the story Jon told was not a pleasant one.

“So, what do you want to do?” Jon asked at last. Martin hesitated. Whatever decision he made; he was sure it would the wrong one. It was surreal being one of a handful of people left in the world who had the power to make choices and not know what to do with it. He scanned the pitch-black street in search of some sort of sign, but he knew deep down he would find no such thing on Night Street. There were only three things to be found in that desolate place: the darkness, the children, and the monsters. That was all there ever had been, that’s all that ever would be.

“Do you still smoke?” Asked Martin.

“What? No. I mean, I suppose I could, it’s not like it can damage me anymore. It’s just it doesn’t relieve any stress more either. I didn’t even try to quit really. I just sort of…stopped.” He explained.

“Right…but do you still have the lighter, the silver one you used to carry around.”

“Um, yes, I think so.” Jon reached into his pocket and lifted out a small, silver lighter with a web engraved into the metal. He flicked it on and let the tiny flame dance freely in the cool, still air. “How nice of the other domains to let me keep their little gives.” He sneered. 

“Can fire spread here?”

“No. Not outside of Jude’s domain. Well, what was Jude’s domain.”

“See if it’ll catch onto anything and start making some lights.” Martin ordered.

“O-okay sure, but why-“ Martin was banging on Callum’s door before Jon had a chance to finish his sentence. The dark eyed teenager glared up at them as he opened the door.   
Two interruptions in one night was more than any avatar should ever have to deal with.

“What do you want?” He scowled. The answer came in the form of Martin’s balled up fist which knocked him to the ground. Martin wasn’t quite strong enough to knock the boy out, but the sudden shock was enough to leave Callum on the floor, dazed and confused. If Martin had learned anything about the avatars, it was that their self-assured attitude could be much more of a weakness than a strength.

“Do you just punch a thirteen-year-old?” Asked Jon as they lingered in the doorway. 

“Um…yes. Yes, I think I did.” Martin nodded as he entered the house. “Search the rooms.”

“For what?” Jon scowled.

“For the kids.” Martin exclaimed. “We can’t just leave them here. We can’t let The Eye hurt them like this. I know the whole world's a mess and everyone is suffering and that’s just the status quo right now, but I draw the line at children. We’re going house to house and we’re getting them out of here.” 

“Martin, this isn’t a normal street.” Jon said as he followed Martin up the stairs. “There are millions of houses, not to mention everyone outside. It’ll take weeks to find them all, months even. We need to focus on the task at hand. We need to find Elias”

“You said time didn’t exist anymore. Besides, you’re semi-omniscient now. With you involved it’ll be like playing hide and seek with see through walls.”

“That’s still millions and millions of kids, maybe even billions. What makes you think we can look after them all?”

“What does The Eye consider to be a child?” Asked Martin as he checked the cupboards and under the beds. “Is it anyone under the age of eighteen? If it is the older ones can look after the younger ones. They’ll keep them calm and keep them distracted while we walk. They’ll be sheltered in the archive when we arrived and presumably be reunited with their parents when we fix all this. We know people don’t really need to eat or sleep anymore so basically necessities aren’t going to be an issue. The worst they can be is bored and after being here for so long I think they’ll take bored happily.”

“Martin-“

“Look, I know it’s not ideal, all right. It’s just better than them being here.”

“And what if they get lost and end up somewhere else? Somewhere worse.”

“You wouldn’t let. I know you wouldn’t. You could keep an eye out, so to speak.”

“That’s not how it works. I can’t watch everyone 24/7 and if one of them slips into another domain or another avatar decides to grab them then I don’t think I can get them out again.”

Martin stopped and sighed. He looked over his shoulder to shoot Jon a look that cut right through what remained of his soul.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?” Jon asked.

“Coming up with excuses.” Martin said as he turned to face Jon. “You asked me what I wanted to do, you asked me to make a decision. You said whatever I wanted you to do, you would do it. I want to get these children out of here, why won’t you help?”

“Because we can’t.” Jon insisted, his voice pleading with Martin to understand.

“Why not?” Martin shouted.

“Because The Eye won’t let us.” Jon snapped. A long silence hung between them as they stood in the dark, empty room, with the whole world seeming unmoving, as if it too had frozen with them.

“What…what to do you mean it won’t let us?” Martin asked quietly.

“Martin, if I had the power to free people don’t you think I would have done so?” Jon replied softly. “Believe me I would love to march to the archives with an army of the people we’d freed and have us all the face down Elias together. But I’m not the one in charge of this operation. I’m just the unlucky bastard who got tricked into starting it.”

“You’ll be the unlucky bastard to end it too.” Martin smiled sadly.

“I hope so.” Jon nodded.

“Is there nothing we can do?”

“The Eye does sometimes make small exceptions for the sake of the avatars. It’s those small mercies that allow me to protect you, for the most part, and I could probably be able to shelter Melanie and Georgie, if they weren’t hidden from me, though I think Daisy and Basira are well out of my reach now. I think it’s possible for me to extend my protection to some victims of other domains.”

“But not all?” 

“No.” Jon said, shaking his head. “Not all.”

“How many we could save?”

“Martin-“

“How many, Jon?” Martin asked quietly.

“Two. We can save two out of millions.”

“Two. Two children for two eyes.” Martin muttered.

“The Eye is nothing if not poetic.” Jon sighed. “It’s still your choice, Martin. Whatever you decide to do next I will try to help you with, as much as I’m allowed to.”

“Two…two is better than none.” Martin nodded firmly after a short pause. “And we will free the others once we reach Elias and put a stop to all of this, but for now if we can make just a small difference, it won’t all feel so…hopeless.”

“Do we pick randomly?” Asked Jon.

“No.” Martin shook his head. “The children from your story, your statement, whatever we’re calling those now, could you find them if you tried?”

“Of course.” Jon nodded.

“It’s got to be them. They have to be the ones we save.”

“And you’re sure this is what you want to do?”

“I don’t think get to be sure of things anymore.” Martin sighed. 

“Okay. Then we’ll save them.”

It didn’t take long for Jon to find the pair. Few things could be hidden from him for long and the endless streets bent and warped in his favour. No matter who claimed ownership of the domains, it was still The Eye’s world in the end. If he really, truly wanted something found, then it had little choice but to be revealed to him. The children were barely visible in the dim light and their silhouettes seemed frightfully small against the endless buildings. Martin could barely see them, but he knew that they were shaking. Even now, stood with him and Jon, out of the reach of Callum and the monsters, they were afraid. He didn’t blame them; he would be afraid too. No, he was afraid too.

“Who are you?” Asked Kaitlyn.

“I’m Martin and this is Jon. We’re here to help you.” Martin said softly.

“Are you monsters?” She asked.

“No. We’re grownups.” 

“There aren’t any grownups on Night Street. They all sit or sleep. They’re not really here. Callum said so.” Jack explained.

“Well…Callum is wrong about a lot of things.”

“Are you here to wake them up? The other grownups I mean?” He asked. Martin gulped. He hadn’t even thought about all the parents of Night Street, their figures now part of the furniture, repeating their pre-programmed movements. How must it look to the children, to see their beloved guardians stone cold and glass eyed? And they were being dragged away from them all over again without so much as a goodbye. But Callum was right, of course, there weren’t any grownups on Night Street. Not really. They existed in other domains, trapped far away from their lost children. They wouldn’t be any help, nor could they be helped.

“Not yet.” Said Jon. “But we’re going to soon, aren’t we, Martin.” 

“Of course.” Martin nodded quietly.

“But they’ve asked us to look after you in the meantime.”

“What about the others? The monsters will get them.” Kaitlyn cried.

“No, they won’t. I promise everyone is going to be all right. Everything is going to be back to normal soon. Now take my hand.” Jon reached out to take Kaitlyn’s hand. She hesitated, cautious of these new, strange protectors. But she could already feel that the monsters weren’t looking for her anymore and morning was close. Carefully, she placed one hand in Jon’s and the other in Jack’s. There was comfort in someone closer to her age. Jack nodded and kept hold while reaching his other hand up to Martin’s. Martin smiled. It wasn’t the rescue he was hoping for, but at least two children were as close to safe as the world would allow. The four of them kept close, holding each other tightly as they walked the monster free pavements of Night Street towards the distantly rising sun.


End file.
